About 6 years ago I worked and lived in Brownsville, Texas. About 3 days a week my colleagues and I would go out to lunch. We would walk to Matamoros, Mexico. Yup walk to Mexico. Matamoros is a border town about a 2 minute walk from downtown Brownsville. Cross the Rio Grande and US customs and voila. We went there for REAL Mexican food. In Mexico. Nothing fancy. Most gringos don’t realize that REAL Mexican food does not have melted cheese smothered on everything in site. That is American Mexican food. Tortilla. Meat. Cilantro and onion. That is the perfect authentic taco. Once I left there I lamented that I would never have that kind of real street food. Until now. Bodega Taqueria y Tequila fills that void http://www.bodegasouthbeach.com/

The restaurant is basically a tricked out food truck that happens to be a brick and mortar eating spot and lounge. The interior is colorful and original. Part airstream trailer doubles as the kitchen.A door marked meat freezer will lead you into the rear lounge/bar area. The tequila starts at 6pm. They have simple picnic tables out front which went perfectly with the food. We went for their Taco Tuesday.

Every Tuesday they feature a different taco 2 for $7. This week it was a calamari taco. We also had the chicken quesadillas. And the Taco Al Pastor and El Camaron. All were authentically delicious. Their tortillas are a 90 yr old Michoacan Family recipe. We had a gazillion hot sauce choices. They also make many in house. The Mango Pineapple was my favorite. The lunch crowd was a mix of white collar, blue collar and no collar. Perfect South Beach mix.

Since I had my 3.5 yr old , we couldn’t leave without trying one of their Paletas. A Paleta is a popsicle made from fruit. Either cream or water based. She had a chocolate covered vanilla and I had a ..wait for it…A margarita/tequila pop. Yup, it was THAT good. Great way to end a great lunch. Got you hungry now? Go to Bodega Taqueria y Tequila.